The History Thread!

Funny thing about Pedro I, is how his son could be said to have taken the part of modernizer in many ways.

Given how he's regarded now in contrast to his successor... well, it's no surprise both are spoken of in Political Science, but only one is spoken of well.

"The Battle of Pirajá"

A battle lost by the losers as much as won by the victors.

Apparently Dom Pedro wasn't the jerk Brazil deserved, but the one it needed right then. Poor Leopoldina, so much influence in politics and so little in her own family life must be heartbreaking.

"Thomas Cochrane lost most of his loot to Bonifácio"

Well played, Bonifácio. Well played.

Thanks, Gaon! That was a great read and I learned more about Brazil through those posts then I ever have before! I tip my internet hat to you!

When Samuel Jonson^note Yes, THAT Samuel Johnson went to Scotland, we wrote on for 3 pages about Loch Ness and not one sentence is about the Loch Ness Monster.

Much kudos for Gaon and the Portuguese History writeups. I'm hoping someone can archive a few links to them somewhere, possibly even on our own Useful Notes pages on Brazil, because they sure as hell deserve them.

Shifting locations, I spent some of Saturday rereading Under a Cruel Star: a Life in Prague, 1941-1968 by Heda Margolius Kovaly, and rereading up on Czech history. The book is excellent: in fact, I'd concur with the judgment that:

It also refamiliarized me with some of the stories from the Prague Spring. One of my personal favorites is that of Czech President Ludvig Svoboda barging into Brezhnev's office and clapping a gun to his own head, and threatening to blow out his own brains if Brezhnev did not release Alexander Dubcek (who had been detained when the Warsaw Pact invaded Czechoslovakia). This was an actual threat; if Svoboda had pulled the trigger, the world would have believed that Brezhnev had ordered him killed, and no amount of pleading from the Kremlin could have convinced them otherwise. It worked, though Dubcek was still forced to read out the ritual statement denouncing his own reforms, and then was forced from power. (Kovaly records the heartbreaking graffiti that went up on the village fences after Dubcek made his radio speech: "Dearest Dubcek: we understand.")

Fixed. Gaon did here for Brazil what I did (and I'm still doing) for the page on Portugal (although what I've written is a bit more dry and analytical). I subscribe to the content of the posts being put in the Brazil page, in a coherent manner, or, alternatively, on a new page.

On another note, is anyone into the French Revolution? I've seen an expansion of the page here on TVT, and I got interested a bit more. Saw the movie made for the bicentennial commemorations (starring, among others, Jane Seymour, Sam Neill or Cristopher Lee).

edited 21st Dec '14 9:57:01 PM by Quag15

Unique entry complex discovered at Herodian Hilltop Palace

Coming out of a Girls Behind Bars film set in World War II called Nathalie: Escape from Hell hours ago, and I got this to ask: Did Nazi Germany have its fair share of hypocrites, as in, were there military personnel who were gay and that they managed to keep it a secret?

edited 23rd Dec '14 3:40:50 AM by HallowHawk

Yep. And given that there is documentary evidence of Jewish soldiers serving in the Wehrmacht, it's not really all that surprising either.

By "Jewish soldiers in the Wehrmacht," you mean the Kriegsmarine, or did the Heer and Luftwaffe have Jews in it too?

As for the homosexuality issue, were there cases of concentration camp personnel being gay, like in NEFH or not?

Here's a little question: Where did the first Spy Defection of the Cold War take place?

Igor Gouzenko, cipher expert in the Soviet Embassy in Canada, and his defection is often credited as being the start of the Cold War.

@Hallow

I think he refers to Erhard Milch.

Thanks

New question: Whatever happened to the old IG Farben headquarters in Frankfurt am Main anyways?

Gaon: That was most excellent. I enjoyed the read.

It's still in use as part of the University of Frankfurt.

So for a change pace how about the Barbary Pirates and their conflicts with the world at large?

A stretch of coast consisting of Tunis, Tripoli, and Algiers and inhabited largely by the Berbers gave it the appellation. While primary operating in the Medd. they were known to reach a lot farther such as coastal regions of the Americas. Their activities ranged from seizing ships and cargo, enslaving crews, to coastal raiding including parts of Europe.

They had been raiding European shipping since the 1600's and their ransoms and enslavement were well known among the Europeans. They began to raid the fledgling US shipping as early as the American Revolution.

Of course there was a reprieve from their raiding. Paying something similar to the Viking Danegeld. However this did not stop all raiding and piracy just the larger scale parts of it. Any nation who didn't pay had their shipping heavily targeted. Spain gained nearly a decade of reprieve by kicking the tar out of them once but the venture was costly and the pirates simply came back.

This was the business of the infamous Barbary Corsairs.

This practice eventually kicked off a series of conflicts at the start of the 19th Century called the Barbary Pirate Wars. These conflicts marked the beginning of the end of the Barbary Pirates.

The wars were started when President Thomas Jefferson refused to pay a markedly increased tribute to the Corsairs. Instead they opted to launch military raids against the pirates including a failed blockade of Tripoli.

Now for the twist. The Sultanate of Morocco ended the raids on the US and gave US ships protection in their waters. This came about as the result of US pursuit of treaties with the nation which proved immensely successful. The treaty guaranteed any captured US sailors that landed in Moroccan ports would be freed and come under their protection. This resulted in the signing of the Moroccan-American Treaty of Friendship which apparently still stands to this day. Making Morocco the oldest US friend and ally in the middle east. However this friendship did not protect the US ships from the other Corsairs.

Turns out the US wasn't half bad at this Naval thing and largely ruled the waves in the region. Things went well until the US ship Philadelphia ran aground and came under fire from shore batteries and smaller gun boats. The captain desperate to try and float the ship ejected its guns. This failed and the crew was captured and either enslaved or ransomed. The Ship was then turned into a floating gun battery.

Now the US embarrassed enough as it was decided this had to be fixed and sought to remove the ship from the pirates position. So a crazy ass Lieutenant Stephen Decatur found a bunch of crazy US Marines and performed a daring raid. Using a captured Ketch they deceived the enemy long enough to get close and storm the vessel. While the other US ships provided fire support the Marines torched the ship. Supposedly the action was reasonably impressive enough to gain light commentary from Horatio Nelson himself. The ship burning◊ Not pictured the Marine Private Left to Guard ship wearing nothing but his skivvies and stick and still managed to burn the ship down without moving.

The War soon reached a stale mate after a series of Naval actions ended in a draw including the Same Ketch used to burn the ship was converted into a fire ship and destroyed in the approach with all hands lost.

The tipping point of the war was the Battle of Derne. In the battle A Former Army Captain and Ex-Consul let the Marines out of their cages. A 1st Lieutenant by the name of Presley O'Bannon led his 8 Marines and a band of 500 Mercenaries on a march from Alexandria. Derne was captured and under increasing military pressure and threat of Tripoli itself coming under attack the Corsairs capitulated.

O'Bannon got a fancy Mameluke sword which became the US Marines officer sword pattern and the Marines being cocky bastards we are decided to sing and brag about how great we were for the next couple centuries. More importantly this showed the US could project military power, gained us rep with the world, and in general was good for the US. However because of degrading relations with Britain which would lead to the War of 1812 the US diverted forces and attention elsewhere around 1807. The US would be back in 1815 for a second round.

This spelled the beginning of the end of the Barbary Pirates.

edited 24th Dec '14 8:10:30 PM by TuefelHundenIV

For those of you wondering, the part of the Marine song that goes "to the shores of Tripoli!" is the singing for several centuries bit Tuefel is talking about.

Thanks and Merry Christmas.

Parable: Indeed it is.

Cleaned it up some and added a few more details. Namely the stalemate that was ended by the seizure of Derne and the loss of the Ketch.

Happy 100th anniversary of the Christmas Truce, guys!

Wikipedia claims that Sweden participated in the First Barbary War on America's side. Apparently they had been at war with Tripoli since 1800 and were already blockading their capital when the Americans came. I can't find any info on why the conflict between Sweden and Tripoli started or how it ended. Anyone here who knows something about that?

Source

Missed that bit. Good find Parable. I was casting around for a good source but my google foo was week that night.

Dutch scientists use smell to recreate JFK, Diana and other famous deaths: "Dutch scientists are recreating the deaths of some of the world's most famous personalities by reconstructing their last moments using scents and sounds . From the sweet smell of Jacqueline Kennedy's perfume mingled with the scent of John F. Kennedy's blood to Whitney Houston's last drug-fuelled moments in a Beverly Hills bathtub, scientists at Breda university say they offer visitors a unique, if somewhat macabre, historical snapshot."

Why Did This Mysterious Ancient Chinese Civilization Disappear?: "One of the oldest known Chinese civilizations disappeared approximately 3000 years ago. However, some evidence suggests it relocated, rather than collapsing, and a new theory suggests this was driven by a distant earthquake redirecting the river that once fed the valley in which the people once lived."

On this day... December 30: Rizal Day in the Philippines (1896)